Bread Bowls with Panera Bread Broccoli Cheese Soup
After seeing some of the posts of bread bowls, I figured I would give it a whirl. I made 4 White bread bowls, which were actually full size boules. And made Broccoli Cheese Soup from a Panera Bread recipe I found online.
Here are 3 of the 4. My youngest had little patience in waiting for me to get photos of them all, she was digging in while I was still posing my bowls. Overall it was a huge hit. My eldest daughter and I are huge soup fans, my wife is much more finicky with soups. I got the nod of approval on this one though. I would higly recommend it to others.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon butter, melted (for cooking onions)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups chicken stock or bouillon
1/2 pound fresh broccoli
1 cup carrots, julienned
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar
Sauté onion in butter. Set aside. Cook melted butter and flour using a whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and slowly add the half-and-half (this is called making a roux). Add the chicken stock whisking all the time. Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add the broccoli, carrots and onions. Cook over low heat until the veggies are tender for 20-25 minutes. Add salt and pepper. The soup should be thickened by now. Pour in batches into blender and puree. Return to pot over low heat and add the grated cheese; stir until well blended. Stir in the nutmeg and serve
TT
Comments
Next rainy day in San Diego...that's what I'm doing.
-Kurt
Next time I will bake my bread bowls earlier in the day so I am not trying to handle baking 4 loaves and making soup all at the same time. But after I do this soup a couple more times, it will undoubtedly get easier.
I wouldn't wait for it to rain though, this is a great soup.
TT
That does look fantastic! Do you have any suggestions that don't include dairy ? I'm allergic, and must avoid it, but I can't think of another soup thick enough for bread bowls.
Vegan Recipe for Creamy Potato-Leek Soup
Adapted from The Great American Detox Diet, by Alex Jamieson
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 leeks, white and light green parts washed and sliced into 1/4-inch slices
2 cups chopped yellow onion
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 pound), peeled and cubed into 1/2-inch cubes
4 cups vegetable stock
2-3 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves
1. Heat a 4-quart soup pot over medium heat and add the oil.
2. Add the leeks, onion, and sea salt and saute for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion begins to turn translucent.
3. Add the garlic and stir well. Cook for 1 minute more.
4. Add the potatoes and vegetable stock, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook 20 minutes.
5. Remove the soup from the heat and use an immersion/stick blender to blend the soup in the pot or ladle the soup into a blender, 1 cup at a time. Blend the soup with the fresh rosemary leaves until smooth and free of chunks. Pour smooth soup into a heat-proof bowl and continue until all of the soup has been blended.
6. Transfer the blended soup back to the original soup pot and warm over low heat until heated through. Serve hot.
Hope this helps,TTTT,
That is one of my favorite books :)
It all looks delicious! Soup and bread both. I'm going to make the soup tomorrow, it looks so good. I don't see me making bread bowls though. We're going to have to settle for bowls of soup with bread on the side. Great job TT. weavershouse
The bowls are not needed, but make a tasty way to serve your soup. I think the first time I had a bread bowl was out at Quincy Market in Boston,MA. My eldest daughter and I shared a bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder. It was great.
Since then, I have seen a couple threads on here about bread bowls so I figured why not. As with alot of my new ideas, I revert back to Floyds Lesson #1 bread. Its simple, and it tastes great. So I just multiplied this recipe, and shaped boules, with my slash going straight down into the bread instead of at an angle. When the bread was finished baking, I just cut down around the edge, and remove the cap like carving a pumpkin.
As the soup soaks into the bread, it makes it easy to spoon out soup with a bit of the bread at the same time.
Again, its not needed, this soup is a definate keeper just served by itself.
TT
I can never remember me ever saying I was civilized. You can notice above my wife is the only one with the bread bowl cap on a small plate. My eldest daughter and I just put ours on the table. :-)
I think my daughter did it to save herself an extra dish from having to wash.
Oh well, after the soup was mostly gone from the bowl, we just broke off little pieces of the crust that were all sopped up with soup. It was very yummy. None of us were able to eat the entire thing, but I gave it a heck of a try.
The dogs happily finished all remaining bread bowls so it wasnt wasted.
TT
Thank you, that sounds delicious, and would be fun to serve when my fancy DIL and son come up.
Yup, off to the grocery for a bunch of brocolli it is. There's a bit of lovely old sharp cheddar kicking around in the fridge that would work great for this soup.
The potato-leek sounds delicious too--that's a favorite around here. I'm hanging with Weavershouse, though--china bowls will have to do, but I'll gladly admire your bread ones.
You seem to have everyone running off to the store!! It is a coincidence, but I was already making broccoli cheese soup as we speak, but now I'm ticked off after seeing yours in the yummy bowl that I don't have one too! It is the icing on the cake. I had seen those Panera Bread recipes but had never given one a try. Tattooedtonka you hit the nail on the head today, and inspired everyone! Good for you! And Browndog, if your reading, the photo of your brown dog is very cute! At first I was just reading along and looking at everyones new pics (Floyds new pic thing is cool) and then I got to you and just burst out laughing! That is so funny. Ya'll make my day.
Audra
Audra, I WAS reading just now, saw the new picture, checked the name and hollered to my husband, "Audra! There's Audra!" It's so nice to have you posting regularly again.
And KipperCat has shown up as well. I LOVE this picture business!
TT, now my husband and kid both insist I make them bread bowls, after I went and insisted to you that I wouldn't. *sigh*
I always used to think I wanted to have a hubby that shared my interest, thought it would be fun to do projects together. Now I do,my husband (of eight years ) and I argue on the best way to do something! We usually work it out and the end result is better, but it may take us two or three extra days to get to that point of where we will actually listen to the others idea. He thinks he is right all the time, but I KNOW I am! It is never dull at our house! He loves to cook, and does a fine job, but he doesn't bake. I have that all to my self. I was out of pocket for a while. I kept on baking, but Emily was starting school (5), and Quaid has just turned into the terrible two's (from the terrible ones!)my "me time" got really short for a while, but I'm back. I have even picked up a few "customers", that help keep me in the kitchen. I don't claim to be nearly as good as you guy's, but selling 3 or 4 loaves a week helps to keep my supplies fresh, and helps to pay for them too. But ANYWAY... congrats on the wedding! That is so cool! May your kitchen be filled with love and happiness!
Audra
TT, these look delicious. A great idea for company, sometime. I'll have to try it out.
One word! Yum!! Will have to give this a try. : )
Amy in Alaska
I finally made the cream of broccoli soup tonight and we loved it. I Served it with jmonkeys baguettes and it was very good indeed. Thanks for posting it. I'll be waiting for more from your kitchen. weavershouse
I am glad you liked it at much as we did.
TT